Tricking out an SKS. What are some practical suggestions?

THINK -- um are you SURE it's receiver (cause that's what every HUNTING and SNIPER -military type, one each rifle I knows mounts theirs)
every time the bolt cycles
what happens to the
DUST COVER
now do you really think a scope mounted there is the best idea?

Had 20,30 and 50rnd clip's for it

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how did that help for loading the 10 round internal magazine?

I bought a new Norenco SKS and tarted it up with the Tapco collapsible stock, pistol grip, threaded the muzzle for the Tapco Yugo style muzzle brake, did the Tapco bolt, installed the Murray's trigger group and use the duckbill 20 round magazines. It looks tactacool but I think the stock makes it heaver. I may go back to the Norenco stock.

Posted by Shadow 7D:
every time the bolt cycles what happens to the DUST COVER
now do you really think a scope mounted there is the best idea?

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I tried using a dust cover scope mount. The one I bought was oversized and I fitted it TIGHT. It worked loose anyway.

I much prefer the scout mount.

Wow after reading all the post it is amazing on who likes what and who doesn't. I only bring this up in some small degree as a preference or desirability statement with regards to what works and is good for the many may not be "all that for the one".

A stock original Norenco and the custom side folder stock when held in both hands simultaneously will be very difficult to tell the difference in weight....Probably some difference if placed on a scale.... but by feel there just isn't much if any difference to me.

The 2 SKSs I have, one is stock and one folding stock.

I have some 30 round mags but never use them.

There is a carry vest ( carries 180+ 7.62x39 on stripper clips for the SKS that can be had for $20? Ebay).

Both the SKSs I have can shoot 12" steel plates all day long at 327 yards with Yugo corrosive ammo and trust me I ain't all that anymore due to being old and eyes suck.

Anyone who complains about the SKS either has not had the Norenco or it was just not their cup of tea for whatever reason? 1000s of rounds (and I do have the the firing pin mod which is still sitting in my spare parts bin) never had a problem; they just keep on keeping on if you clean them (which I do)......but....I hunt and am not one to shoot until my barrel looks like a dying sun on some alien world.

As others have mentioned the 30 round mags are heavy and awkward to mess with. The 10 round stock mag and the vest works great for me but again it is a matter of preference, functionality and taste. The Norenco SKS even at $300+ is a weapon that will take game large and small and has some serious knock down power. It is not finicky about ammo and is made to last under adverse conditions and lay down an accurate field of fire for it's user. Is it a scoped AR...ahhhhh nope.....is it more accurate than an AK....maybe depending on what AK.....but in general my 2 cents says it is more accurate past 250 yards or at longer ranges than any iron sighted AK I have tried. I have other rifles and some of them are outfitted with the best stuff I can afford...but.... if I had to get rid of everything the SKS would be one of the last to leave. Matter of taste and preference.

http://www.kivaari.com/index.html for triggers etc etc

http://www.sksboards.com/smf/index.php?PHPSESSID=93aecad3550678cc4e121871403fa99b&board=3.0

http://www.sksboards.com/smf/index.php?topic=5329.0 Everything about where and when they were manufactured....

Congratulations on your purchase. What ever you do you can always go back to the way it sits now so whatever your budget allows " go for it".

OH
and you need to be 922(r) compliant, with not more than 10 'foreign' made parts in your rifle.

I have the dust cover scope mount but have not installed it ( think it was less than $30??). If you get one you will need a dremel or file to do some fitting. Would probably work with a lite red dot and I might get around to trying that on one of mine but have been working on other optics on different platforms as of late. The rifle is so accurate with irons for me I really do not see a need for a scope on mine.

The scout type mount on the gas tube and a red dot seems to work well for many if you just have to have an optic. I might get around to mounting it this winter but my expectations are not very high on reliability if I mount a scope. I doubt it will be stable enough regardless of fit and finish for a scope to be consistently accurate....but maybe it will.... After shooting the rifle with Yugo corrosive ammo, (which is the best deal I have found and very accurate) you will need to clean the rifle...If you start gluing stuff down IMO you will find it more of a hassle than it is worth.

I forgot to mention that if you do go with tapco, spend the extra 30? bux on the gas tube with the shield already installed. I had a hard time changing mine out and ruined the wood one.

Yeah, the dust cover mount CAN work
if you make it stable, then you just have to deal with the shock (quality scope)

SO if you want to epoxy the entire thing down,
well, why don't you just get a Choate side mount?

My experience with the tech sites is that they pretty much cover the effective range of the SKS anyway. If you have trouble with aperture sites then you may still want to try a scope, but my gut would be that you should be looking towards some sort of scout scope set up. My experience with the dust cover scopes was as follows: choice of scope is limited by length (unless you get a shell deflector, but I always felt this might be a bit of a problem), iron sites were still visible but somewhat obscured and more difficult to use, BUT the scope did hold zero fairly well. I still have a dust cover mount on my AK and it works just fine and the dust cover on the SKS actually locks up a good bit tighter. You are going to have to choose though because the Tech Sites won't be compatible with a dust cover mount. Williams makes and aperture sight that replaces the standard rear site that you could use with the dust cover mount, but in that case you lose the advantage of having your sites so far to the rear. I have heard good things about the SKS being used with scout scopes and there are a number of set ups to do this with.

Oh and I'll just re-emphasize this, if you want to use detachable mags as opposed to the built in fixed mag the TAPCO one is the only one on the market today that is worth buying. Trust me I have seen and used a lot of mags and none of them work well.

I bought the dust cover replacement for a friend. After about 2 hours of dremel use, was finally able to mount it. He killed a deer, his first day out. I don't recommend it for target shooting or SHTF.
My only mod is adding a 2in. rubber butt pad.

I really like my Norinco SKS in the original/stock form. Since I am one of those short stocky russian built guys. I have a buddy that has a SKS with an ATI side folding stock and a 5 round and 20 round detachable mags. His is heavier than mine by a couple of pounds.

I like to shoot iron sights. So the only mod's I will likely make to mine is adding a TS200 tech sight and the smaller front sight post. And a trigger job. But that is what works for me.

Do what you want to your rifle. Some will call it Bubba'd. Some will call it improved. Do go to the SKS boards to read and learn all you can about this great rifle.

I'll throw in two more cents worth. I'm also of the opinion that the SKS isn't much of a rifle in it's stock form. But modified I think it's fine rifle. It fits me a lot better than any AK I've used, but nowhere near as good as an AR.

I'm a big fan of the Tech Sight and spend the extra five buck for the target front post. Not very good in very low light though. It's definitely a problem at night. The Tech Sight is likely to require you to do some basic dremel work to get it to fit with a T6 stock. No big deal.

I'm attaching some photos that may help if you haven't seen the items in real life.

There is a receiver cover mount that does work, but it's expensive. It's from DC Engineering. I've used a number of their items over the past seven or so years and I'd say that this is the only part they make that is worth buying, and it is excellent.

If you look at the photo you'll see that it "grips" the sides of the receiver and more importantly it has set screws at the back of the mount and tightening them down locks the system. Since apparently no two SKS's are made the same, the amount you have to tighten the screws is variable according to your rifle.

You'll also notice that using this mount, just like a Tech Sight, you need to replace the latch pin with a bolt and nut. On the bright side though, using a bolt for the receiver cover really makes a difference on how secure you can make the cover.

You have to call DC direct to order this item- you must be certain that you're getting the version that has the set screws. Some versions do not, and that's just wasting your money. I've only used it with RDO's, a very short scope would probably be ok but I'd be concerned with ejecting brass hitting the scope and breaking it. A scope and an SKS don't really seem to go together anyway.

http://www.rifletech.net/cgi-bin/shop.pl/page=sks4.html

Just for kicks, if you want to go further and spend even more, the third photo is the PWS FSC-47 compensator. You need to get your muzzle threaded, which is not a big deal. It's pricey but dang nice. It doesn't seem as effective as the FSC-556, but I think that's just a matter of the SKS bolt assembly's mass moving the rifle around and not a problem with the compensator doing it's job.

Playing the 922r game sucks, but I always play it. If you need 922r parts and want to get the trigger worked on, I would send it off to Ben Murray now. I think Kivaari does great work, but the trigger, hammer and sear that Murray now makes and sells are really nice, and it makes better financial sense to have Murray do all the trigger work. That's three additional compliance parts and a much nicer trigger - an option we didn't have even just a year or so ago.

On the other hand, unless Murray has upgraded the spring loaded firing pin, I recommend staying away from that. In my experience the springs eat themselves in short order and leave a mess in the firing pin channel. It seems like a solution in search of a problem. Just keep the pin channel reasonably clean and you're good to go. Not a compliance part either.

Be aware that Tapco plays games with it's compliance parts count. The T6 stock is only two parts, not the three they claim. You must REPLACE a part to have it count for 922r. So ADDING a pistol grip does NOT count towards 922r.

I recall that Tapco claims the op rod as a compliance part, but also IIRC, BATF doesn't list the SKS as even having an op rod, so it obviously can't be replaced.

The Tapco 20 round mags are very decent. They've always worked very well for me. However you do need to pay attention to the instructions regarding magwell width. If you use those mags in a T6 stock it's a non-issue, but if you use them in a standard wood stock, then magwell issues can show up and that affects how well the mag will feed.

My feeling is that the only downside to the Tapco 20's is that the feed lips should be beefier. They don't actually break, but they do get weak, when that happens rounds can move out of position or pop out pretty easy. Not while in the rifle, but if you carry them in pouches the top round can easily move out of position and screw up your reload. Does count as at least two compliance parts, and maybe three, so that's a very good thing. I've always counted them as two parts, just to be on the safe side.

BTW, the rifle in the photos is a D version, so it actually does use AK mags.

Good luck and have fun.

SKS

The SKS makes a nice simple platform for a Urban Carbine . Mine has work fine with all the add on parts from Tapco, 4 Tapco 20 round magazines performed flawlessly so far, did get the other parts needed to be 922r compliant also. If You want to Tapco the weapon go for it, mine shoots great and is wearing a Primary Arms M3 red dot. Nice weapon, but I would not or do not own a stock SKS as I don't like the stock 10 round mag and wood stock configuration, others like it that way so if it's Your gun build how You want. Anyone who says they don't work or don't shoot are either missinformed or not familiar with the new Tapco products......WVleo

I have owned three SKSs for some time now, and for me at least, they are excellent rifles when used for the purpose for which they are intended. They are super-tough, they can endure a lot of abuse and keep on functioning, and they will hit what you aim at, at least within 300 yards.

Most of the advice given above seems good to me. For a lot more, you can go here -- http://www.sksboards.com/smf/index.php -- and scroll through the threads there. It's a huge site with lots of great discussions.

If you bought an "Arsenal 26" Norinco (with the stylized /26\ stamp on the left side of the receiver) you got something special, and if it's in good shape you also got a terrific price.

And if it is an Arsenal 26 production you can tell the year of manufacture by subtracting 7 from the first two numbers, unless it was made between 56 and 63, in which case there's another method for determining year. It it's from any other arsenal, there doesn't seem to be any way to tell the manufacturing date for sure.

There is also TONS of detailed information at Yooper John's SKS page -- http://yooperj.com/SKS.htm -- and you'll have a great time scrolling through it all.

Here's another vote for the TechSite 200. Age has left me with no ability to see both a barrel-mounted rear sight and the front sight, and that Techsite mounted at the absolute rear of the receiver solved that problem very neatly.

Have fun!

Picked up this at a gun show

First, don't waste money on firing pin upgrades. It was only some of the Russian guns that were susceptible to slam firing.

Second, don't waste money on cheap scopes and mounts. I've tried just about all of them and they are all junk. Buy a Tech Sight rear sight and be done with it.

I was going to suggest to forget about every thing else as well. I've used just about every SKS accessory known in the western world and they are all junk. I was going to say to just leave it alone other than the Tech Sights. However, I will conceded that the Tapco stock looks pretty cool so you have my permission to try it....

Love the SKS platform as is.

Honestly, save your dough. Use it for ammo to train, a course, or another gun.

SKS is a good platform as is.

I am doubtful that such vibrations would knock a scope out of calibration to the point that shots to the rounds effective range would be significantly handicapped, but I don't know.

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Many of the users here and elsewhere HAVE tried the dustcover mounts, and while you get the odd guy who claims theirs works, most people report having issues retaining a zero with scopes mounted in such a manner. Its not a "theory" so much as a commonly reported experience

I agree with Mac66 (post #48).

I wouldn't even bother with a Tech Sight.

In addition if you mount a scope you can't acquire a solid cheek weld to the buttstock to become "one with the gun".

Mudcat Stew said:

As luck would have it, it's and arsenal 26. I didn't pay much attention to the sigils in pyramid by the SN#. The 2 and 6 are smaller at the top which doesn't make them look like a "26".

I will have to read up on the arsenal 26.

I have about decided to go with the tech 200 sights.

I may add collapsible stock at some point and am still at odds on the addition of hi cap mags, though favoring not doing so.

Regards,

Mudcat

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Congratulations! Here's some history on the /26\ SKS.

The Russians built a few SKS at their Izhevsk arsenal, but almost all of them were built at the venerable Tula arsenal, which has produced millions upon millions of military arms, and where generations of knowledge and expertise reigned supreme.

In 1956 the Russians packed up the Tula arsenal and shipped it to China, along with enough experienced technicians to run it, and eventually to train enough Chinese to run it properly.

That (Tula) arsenal became the Chinese Arsenal 26. SKSs made there between 1956 and '64 or '65 were not only made on the original Russian equipment, they were made by Russian technicians. After that, Chinese began to take over. Some changes slowly crept into the design, the materials, and the production of the /26\ SKS, (you can get detailed information about this on Yooper John's site) but they are all formidable weapons.

By the way, the SKS was designed way back in the days when most persons were somewhat smaller than present-day Americans. There are at least a couple of companies that make recoil pads (stock extensions, really) that attach with the original buttplate hardware and still give access to the tools in the buttstock. That makes firing the SKS much easier for wierdos like me, with 36" sleeve measurements.

There's a lot to know about these beauties; the two sites that I posted about should give you all the information you'll ever want to know about them. Be careful -- they're addictive!